Thursday, July 14, 2016

As many of you know, the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale started today (7/14) for Nordstrom card-holders and for the rest of us, the sale begins on July 22nd and runs through August 7th. For beauty lovers, this event is sort of like Black Friday and Cyber Monday all rolled into one, since there are many, many deals on makeup, skincare, haircare, and more, including special Nordstrom-Anniversary-Sale-Exclusive products and sets that you will only be able to purchase during this event.

This sale can get overwhelming (believe me, even I am overwhelmed by the sheer volume of deals available) but I'm here to help guide you through and help you make your wishlists, ensure that you get exactly what you want, and pick up some freebies along the way. So let's get started!

STEP ONE:

If you have not already done so, I urge you to sign up for the Nordstrom Rewards program HERE(it's free to join). All of your purchases from Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack (in-store and online) and also HauteLook will add up to earn you points for future rewards, which is like free money. PLEASE NOTE: if you signed up for Nordstrom Rewards while they were still running their $10 credit promotion (no longer available), Nordstrom will be emailing you the $10 credit a few days before the official start of the sale (7/22), and you can use that credit toward anything you want to purchase during the Anniversary Sale. I do not know exactly which day the credits will be sent, but I know for a fact that it will be a couple of days prior to 7/22. So just keep an eye on your in-box and remember that you can subtract $10 from any of the items you see below (something nice to keep in mind if you signed up when I pretty much begged you to a few weeks ago!).

STEP TWO:

If you do not already have a Nordstrom account (or you don't want to sign up for a Nordstrom Rewards account), make a free Nordstrom account HERE (click "Your Account" in the top menu bar to sign up). Why? Because when you're signed into your Nordstrom account on the Nordstrom website and you view all of the Anniversary Sale previews (which you'll see below), you can add those items to your wishlist for easy access once the sale begins on July 22nd. You'll be ready to go once the sale starts!

STEP THREE:

This isn't really a "step" but just something to keep in mind if you're new to Nordstrom. All purchases on the Nordstrom website, no matter how small, receive free shipping. Also, Nordstrom now offers FIVE free mystery samples with all beauty purchases. Here's the info from the Nordstrom site:

Receive five free assorted beauty samples with any makeup, skin care, grooming or fragrance purchase. Online and in store. This offer does not apply to in-store pickup orders. Samples are limited and subject to availability, and substitutions may apply. Unfortunately, items cannot be shipped to PO boxes, military APO/FPO or international addresses. Your samples may ship separately from the items you purchased.

STEP FOUR:

Nordstrom is offering several special gifts-with-purchase to go along with the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale beauty deals. Some are available now to everyone, while others are only available to card-holders until July 22nd (at which time they'll be available to everyone). So click HERE to view all of the gifts-with-purchase and refer back to that page when you're making your wishlists, so that you can keep track of what you want and what you may be able to get for FREE with your qualifying purchases.

STEP FIVE:

If you are a Nordstrom card-holder (you can sign up HERE if you're interested in getting a Nordstrom debit or credit card), then you already have access to this sale and can purchase all of the beauty deals HERE now. But if you're not a card-holder, you can preview all 264 beauty deals HERE and you can now add what you want to your wishlist (see Step Two). Non-card-holders will have access to these deals beginning 12:00AM Pacific on July 22nd, through August 7th.

STEP SIX:

If you are not a card-holder, make your wishlists and set your reminders for 12:00AM Pacific on 7/22 (in other words, the evening of 7/21) so you can have the best chance of purchasing everything you want online the moment the sale starts. Things will sell out before the sale is over, so jump on these deals as soon as you can. This sale will also be in-store, so there's that option as well! And if you're making your purchases in-store, there are in-store-only beauty events happening throughout the course of the Anniversary Sale, all of which you can view HERE.

I hope this post helps you get all of your ducks in a row so that you're ready to go when the sale starts on July 22nd (if you're a card-holder and you're already shopping the sale today, then congrats for making it this far since you probably didn't even need to read this post to begin with!). If you have any questions that I did not cover in this post, please comment below and I'll do my best to help get you answers!

69 comments

I signed up for a Nordstrom card almost 3 weeks ago specifically for this sale and it still hasn't arrived in the mail. Because I don't have the actual card I have no way to shop the sale... It's breaking my heart ��

Maddie, if you call the Nordstrom Beauty Stylist hotline at 1.800.723.2889 they should be able to look up your credit card account even without having the card in front of you. Just tell them you applied and were approved but haven't gotten the card yet. They are always very nice and helpful! G, apologies if this was spelled out in your post, I looked over it several times and did not see it.

Lindsey, THANK YOU! I thought Maddie was referring to the credit! Maddie, I'm deleting my comment above because it had nothing to do with the credit card (and my apologies for reading your question incorrectly!!! Hopefully their advice will help you!

Kuri: clearly my reading comprehension yesterday was at an all-time low! THANK YOU for pointing out that I was talking about the Smith's and not the CO Bigelow. What in the heck was I thinking? I just removed my comment to avoid further confusion. Lol! I have NOT tried the CO Bigelow, so I don't know how similar it is to the Smith's (which I love).

L: please see what I just wrote to Kuri. I'm so sorry I can't help you with this one--I was talking about Smith's when I first responded to you! But hopefully someone here can answer your questions!

I want to comment on the MAC brush sets. The brushes in the sets are NOT the same as the brushes you can buy individually. The quality is not the same. For instance, the MAC 239 is made in Japan. Most( if not all) of the brushes in the sets are made in China. I think its ludicrous to spend that much $$ when you can buy a Crown brush or a Sigma brush. In the case of those MAC brushes, you're really paying for the name.

Interesting! So did you already order and receive these brushes, or did you get your info elsewhere? I'm certainly not doubting you, but there's no country of origin listed on the Nordstrom site so I'm curious how you found out. As for the money, it works out to like $10 a brush, which is roughly about what you'd pay at Sigma, etc. The Sigma travel brush sets are like $39, so it's kind of the same. I mean, you do get a MAC bag, if that means anything to you, but I'm just saying that it's not a huge price difference if you're saying the brushes are of comparable quality.

I have both the Sigma travel set and one of these Mac sets from a previous Nordstrom sale. I don't know where the products were made, but I can say that in my opinion, the Mac brushes in these sets are inferior to their usual brush quality. The Sigma travel set I have is significantly better in quality. However, I'm basing my judgment on one set purchased last year so perhaps things have changed?

Further, the brushes that come in sets have the letters SE next to them( at least they did in the past)( thats how you can tell the difference). And, while we're on the subject, is that Lorac set made in China too? I believe those sets are not the same quality as the Lorac pro sets( which are made in the USA)

Remember how I described trying to get the $20 note with an online application/approval to Nordstrom's card? Well I did it today and it was still a hassle. I had the order number to prove I spent $103 back in May, and I had the new card from Nordstrom, but I still had to hunt for the order and contents to prove it. I definitely got the sense they were doing me a favor, despite my having all the info that the CS person told me in May. I did get it (at least they said in the next 24 hours). Just don't give up if you are in the boat like me.

The site is working fine for me (although I see you left your comment last night so hopefully that was a momentary glitch)! And thanks for the tip about the brushes--I wish i could find the country of origin for these particular brushes. :(

Hi G, has any one else repored any problems with th free sample bag codes? When I added code "pink" it gave me the "this promotional code is not valid." Are they holding off until the 22nd? I had over $50 from the beauty section.

Those bags are no longer on the Nordstrom site, so I believe they sold out (unless they bring them back once the sale begins--I have no idea if they will though, since those bags went live earlier and always tend to sell out quickly). Sorry!

Thank you so much, Christina! It took a lot out of me. Lol! I was so out of it by the time I finished that I couldn't really see straight (as evidenced by my poor reading comprehension regarding some of the comments above!). Anyway, thanks again for the kind words! xo

I think no one can say for sure it will.But to cheer you up, last year there was the LORAC Skinny palette for $15 and I wanted it so much. I wasn't a card holder. I was able to get it once the card holder pre-sale finished. But as G adviced, you have to be ready to get it as soon as possible. Cause will be gone in minutes. But for my experience last year it did lasted until the end of the card holders pre-sale.

OK now this is based ONLY on previous LORAC Anniversary Sale palettes so I definitely cannot say this will 100% be the case here, but it may be. Typically, these palettes do sell out, but I have found that not all of them are sold out by the time the public sale launches. However, I think that both palettes will probably sell out by Aug 7 when the sale ends. BUT, historically, they usually come back at least once on HauteLook sometime in the future after the Anniversary Sale. The price on HauteLook is usually the same as it was during the Anniversary Sale, but you'll have the $5.95 shipping unless you spend $100. I'm just telling you this in CASE you find that the palette is sold out by the time the sale is public. There SHOULD be a way to get it down the road, and I always post the moment I find out these palettes are on HauteLook. So all is not lost if you miss it the first time around. :)

Thanks for the extra info Liz & G! I'll make sure I have everything ready on my account (already have it added to my wishlist, per G's suggestions in the article) and be ready to pounce when it goes live at midnight.

Very informative, thanks! I am still ticked at Nordstrom's for not letting me sign up for a Rewards account (the kind without a credit card) as I have no cell phone number. That's not fair. I know I am the last person on earth without a cell, but there you go!

Aaaah, so sorry to hear that. And yeah, they have it designed where you have to enter your cell number on the Nordstrom, HauteLook and Nordstrom Rack sites in order to get your points. Not sure why they won't let you use a land-line number. :(

Beth, just a thought to your dilemma. Can you try signing up for a free Google Voice number (assuming you have a gmail account)? You should be able to use that as your "cell phone" number. I believe you can send/received texts on your computer...I'm able to on my cellphone since I linked it to my Google Voice account.

Beth...just a thought, but maybe you can get a free Google Voice number (assuming you have a gmail account) and use that as your cell phone number. I believe you can send/receive texts via that number using your computer (I get texts on my cell).

I read the part where you said the $10 credit could be used towards any purchase during the sale... Does that mean that it can be applied towards things that are not within the sale too? Or can it only be applied to the things in the sale list? I ask because i wanted to buy something else not on the sale list and am waiting for the credit to make the purchase, should I be able to. Thanks in advance!

I'm kind of confused! Hope you can help. We are only allowed to use the $10 on specific items? I thought it was on anything we wanted and could buy from haute look rack and regular nordstrom? Also, is free shipping only for beauty purchases? Thank you for the clarification!! :D

Here is a note on Nordstrom's customer service. When Stila had their friends and family sale, Nords price matched for me. My 3 chosen samples were cancelled a few days later. I got on with chat and they told me they were changing their sample program and would reship samples to me. I never received them. I got on with chat again and the agent is sending me that free beauty bag and my samples. I guess now you can't chose your own samples, they chose them for you. ( I don't like that, I loved picking the higher end( La Mer) samples.

The mystery bag was the bag that was available with the 75.00 purchase. I chose the teal colored bag( said Wink Wink) on it. It had 2 mascaras, a mario badescu cleanser, some perfume saples and a couple other things that I can't remember.

I have MANY of the non-PRO palettes and I will tell you that not all of the shadows are like the PRO shadows. That said, I love their limited edition non-PRO palettes because, in my opinion, there are always enough shades (eyeshadows and/or face colors) that justify the low price of those palettes. Hope that helps a little! :)

Hi. I didn't see the Beauty Bash in your post. Maybe I missed it? If not, the catalog says it's in store on the 23rd. You get a Nordstrom tote with $125 purchase. It also says "make overs, consultations and tons of exclusive savings." If it's like the events I've been to at Saks, there will be refreshments and other little bonuses that the counters hand out (with purchase). This will be my first Nordstrom event, though, so I'm not certain.